BioCentury
ARTICLE | Emerging Company Profile

MantiCore: Making mythology real

January 19, 1998 8:00 AM UTC

MantiCore Pharmaceuticals Inc. takes its name from a mythical beast that has the head of a man, the body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion. "It's an appropriate metaphor," said vice president of biomedical sciences and co-founder Charles Grissom. "We're presenting the face of a friend to the cell, and it delivers a lethal sting."

The company is developing bioconjugate compounds, which combine cytotoxic chemotherapeutics (the lethal sting) with molecules normally taken up by the body (the friendly face) to target those drugs to cancer cells...